Report: George W. Bush briefed on Al Qaeda

Then-President George W. Bush received more frequent and detailed warnings about Al Qaeda’s plans to attack the United States than have previously been disclosed, according to a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday by author Kurt Eichenwald.

While the Bush administration had revealed an Aug. 6, 2001, presidential brief titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,” other earlier briefings also warned of an attack. The first report came in May, and a June report said an attack was “imminent,” Eichenwald wrote.

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Eichenwald, a former New York Times reporter who’s the author of a new book, “500 Days: Secrets and Lies In the Terror Wars,” writes that neoconservatives in the Bush administration dismissed the warnings because “bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat.” The CIA persisted in its warnings.

Appearing with Eichenwald on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” former New York Gov. George Pataki attacked the author on Tuesday, accusing him of trying to blame Bush for not protecting America from the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Sept. 11, everything changed, and to look 11 years later, and to say: ‘Ah ha! This was happening before Sept. 11 in the summer,’ and to go through and selectively take out quotes and say ‘You should have done that and you should have done that,’ I think it’s incredibly unfair and a disservice to history,” Pataki said on “Morning Joe.”

“What I’m saying is, we cannot say: ‘I’m not going to pay attention to history, cause that part of history is about my party’,” Eichenwald said to Pataki, a Republican, later adding: “It’s 11 years later. Of course we can learn from it.”

Pataki wasn’t actually basing his critique on the book.

“I haven’t read your book, thank God, and I don’t intend to,” Pataki said. “But just looking at the jacket and the quotes on the back, these are selectively taken for the purpose of making the Bush administration look bad.”

Eichenwald said his book was a balanced protrait of the Bush administration and read a passage from the second page of his 640-page book in which a national security aide praises Bush effusively. Pataki didn’t respond.

Readers' Comments (78)

""""""""""""""".In June 2001, German intelligence warned the US, Britain, and Israel that Middle Eastern terrorists were planning to hijack commercial aircraft and use them as weapons to attack“the warnings were taken seriously and surveillance intensified” but “there was disagreement on how such terrorist attacks could be prevented.” This warning came from Echelon, a spy satellite network that is partly based in Germany. [Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 9/11/01, Washington Post, 9/14/01]

.In late July 2001, Egyptian intelligence received a report from an undercover agent in Afghanistan that “20 al-Qaeda members had slipped into the US and four of them had received flight training on Cessnas.” To the Egyptians, pilots of small planes didn’t sound terribly alarming, but they passed on the message to the CIA anyway, fully expecting Washington to request information. “The request never came.” [CBS, 10/9/02

. .In late summer 2001, Jordan intelligence intercepted a message stating that a major attack was being planned inside the US and that aircraft would be used. The code name of the operation was Big Wedding, which did in fact turn out to be the codename of the 9/11 plot. The message was passed to US intelligence through several channels. [International Herald Tribune, 5/21/02, Christian Science Monitor, 5/23/02]

. Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly stated that he ordered his intelligence agencies to alert the US in the summer of 2001 that suicide pilots were training for attacks on US targets. [Fox News, 5/17/02] The head of Russian intelligence also stated, “We had clearly warned them” on several occasions, but they “did not pay the necessary attention.” [Agence France-Presse, 9/16/01]

The Russian newspaper Izvestia claimed that Russian intelligence agents knew the participants in the attacks, and: “More than that, Moscow warned Washington about preparation for these actions a couple of weeks before they happened.” [Izvestia, 9/12/02]""""""""""""""""""""""

And where was George Bush??? On the ranch taking a long vacation after six months on the job.

"But some in the administration considered the warning to be just bluster. An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat."

Iraq was the focus of necons from the beginning of the Bush administration. It's no wonder that we invaded Iraq on the flimisiest of excuses.

Look, anyone who believe that all of our Defense capabilities failed at the same time on 9,11 has rocks in their head. These so called attacks were planned. Those idiot Arabs that they let in the country were patsy's. When Lt. Col. Schaeffer's team tried to report that these so called terrorist cells were in the country, he was turned away by lawyers. It was also kept out of the 9,11 report. When Schaeffer wrote a book about this stuff, the Pentagon bought and burned 10,000 first run copies to keep them from the public. It was hands off on these guys. Even when they were flying planes.

Go look at the FEMA report, they've got steel beams that were eaten away like butter. You've got steel beams that were fused together from extreme heat, two of those beams were fused together in the shape of a cross. You've got chemical engineers in videos on You Tube that shows a Military grade nano-thermite in all of the dust at the WTC. And building 7 is the best of all, NIST is now refusing to release any of the models of their work for fear of jeopardizing public safety. That's what they said, fear of jeopardizing public safety. You might wanna explain that one to me. They did the work and put it out for the Twin Towers. Plus there are now witnesses that heard the countdown to blow building 7. Witnesses and video showing a shock-wave ripping through building 7 and all of the windows blowing out before the building started to fall. Then there's the Pentagon tapes from like 100 cameras that they refuse to release. The tapes from the Hotel that's across the street from the Pentagon they refuse to release. Before the Pentagon roof fell in, there's only a small round hole with no window frames broken on either side. How can a Jumbo-Jet crash into that building and have the wings do zero damage? This whole thing was a fraud. Anyone doing the research with an open mind will easily see what millions of others have. Even Bush's hand picked 9,11 commission said the 9,11 investigation was a fraud. How can you do an investigation when you're only allowed Bush gang approved evidence? You've got all sorts of people wanting a new investigation, from ex politicians to Military people. They better hope it doesn't come, because a lotta people would go down.

No one can blame Bush. He didn't even get elected President and was forced to take the job when the Supeme Court overturned the 2000 election. Bush barely finished college and probably didn't even know who Bin Laden was on 9/11.

The persons who knew that was some kind of attack coming and thought it might help politically were Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney was the person who planned the Iraq War to help with the 2004 election and Karl Rove and Dick Chene were the persons in charge when 3000 American lives were lost on 9/11.

When history is written, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney will be remembered as our American Stalins.

Look, anyone who believe that all of our Defense capabilities failed at the same time on 9,11 has rocks in their head. These so called attacks were planned. Those idiot Arabs that they let in the country were patsy's. When Lt. Col. Schaeffer's team tried to report that these so called terrorist cells were in the country, he was turned away by lawyers. It was also kept out of the 9,11 report. When Schaeffer wrote a book about this stuff, the Pentagon bought and burned 10,000 first run copies to keep them from the public. It was hands off on these guys. Even when they were flying planes.

Go look at the FEMA report, they've got steel beams that were eaten away like butter. You've got steel beams that were fused together from extreme heat, two of those beams were fused together in the shape of a cross. You've got chemical engineers in videos on You Tube that shows a Military grade nano-thermite in all of the dust at the WTC. And building 7 is the best of all, NIST is now refusing to release any of the models of their work for fear of jeopardizing public safety. That's what they said, fear of jeopardizing public safety. You might wanna explain that one to me. They did the work and put it out for the Twin Towers. Plus there are now witnesses that heard the countdown to blow building 7. Witnesses and video showing a shock-wave ripping through building 7 and all of the windows blowing out before the building started to fall. Then there's the Pentagon tapes from like 100 cameras that they refuse to release. The tapes from the Hotel that's across the street from the Pentagon they refuse to release. Before the Pentagon roof fell in, there's only a small round hole with no window frames broken on either side. How can a Jumbo-Jet crash into that building and have the wings do zero damage? This whole thing was a fraud. Anyone doing the research with an open mind will easily see what millions of others have. Even Bush's hand picked 9,11 commission said the 9,11 investigation was a fraud. How can you do an investigation when you're only allowed Bush gang approved evidence? You've got all sorts of people wanting a new investigation, from ex politicians to Military people. They better hope it doesn't come, because a lotta people would go down.

Look, anyone who believe that all of our Defense capabilities failed at the same time on 9,11 has rocks in their head. These so called attacks were planned. Those idiot Arabs that they let in the country were patsy's. When Lt. Col. Schaeffer's team tried to report that these so called terrorist cells were in the country, he was turned away by lawyers. It was also kept out of the 9,11 report. When Schaeffer wrote a book about this stuff, the Pentagon bought and burned 10,000 first run copies to keep them from the public. It was hands off on these guys. Even when they were flying planes.

Go look at the FEMA report, they've got steel beams that were eaten away like butter. You've got steel beams that were fused together from extreme heat, two of those beams were fused together in the shape of a cross. You've got chemical engineers in videos on You Tube that shows a Military grade nano-thermite in all of the dust at the WTC. And building 7 is the best of all, NIST is now refusing to release any of the models of their work for fear of jeopardizing public safety. That's what they said, fear of jeopardizing public safety. You might wanna explain that one to me. They did the work and put it out for the Twin Towers. Plus there are now witnesses that heard the countdown to blow building 7. Witnesses and video showing a shock-wave ripping through building 7 and all of the windows blowing out before the building started to fall. Then there's the Pentagon tapes from like 100 cameras that they refuse to release. The tapes from the Hotel that's across the street from the Pentagon they refuse to release. Before the Pentagon roof fell in, there's only a small round hole with no window frames broken on either side. How can a Jumbo-Jet crash into that building and have the wings do zero damage? This whole thing was a fraud. Anyone doing the research with an open mind will easily see what millions of others have. Even Bush's hand picked 9,11 commission said the 9,11 investigation was a fraud. How can you do an investigation when you're only allowed Bush gang approved evidence? You've got all sorts of people wanting a new investigation, from ex politicians to Military people. They better hope it doesn't come, because a lotta people would go down.

Look, anyone who believe that all of our Defense capabilities failed at the same time on 9,11 has rocks in their head. These so called attacks were planned. Those idiot Arabs that they let in the country were patsy's. When Lt. Col. Schaeffer's team tried to report that these so called terrorist cells were in the country, he was turned away by lawyers. It was also kept out of the 9,11 report. When Schaeffer wrote a book about this stuff, the Pentagon bought and burned 10,000 first run copies to keep them from the public. It was hands off on these guys. Even when they were flying planes.

Go look at the FEMA report, they've got steel beams that were eaten away like butter. You've got steel beams that were fused together from extreme heat, two of those beams were fused together in the shape of a cross. You've got chemical engineers in videos on You Tube that shows a Military grade nano-thermite in all of the dust at the WTC. And building 7 is the best of all, NIST is now refusing to release any of the models of their work for fear of jeopardizing public safety. That's what they said, fear of jeopardizing public safety. You might wanna explain that one to me. They did the work and put it out for the Twin Towers. Plus there are now witnesses that heard the countdown to blow building 7. Witnesses and video showing a shock-wave ripping through building 7 and all of the windows blowing out before the building started to fall. Then there's the Pentagon tapes from like 100 cameras that they refuse to release. The tapes from the Hotel that's across the street from the Pentagon they refuse to release. Before the Pentagon roof fell in, there's only a small round hole with no window frames broken on either side. How can a Jumbo-Jet crash into that building and have the wings do zero damage? This whole thing was a fraud. Anyone doing the research with an open mind will easily see what millions of others have. Even Bush's hand picked 9,11 commission said the 9,11 investigation was a fraud. How can you do an investigation when you're only allowed Bush gang approved evidence? You've got all sorts of people wanting a new investigation, from ex politicians to Military people. They better hope it doesn't come, because a lotta people would go down.

Assuming everything this Bush/Republican hater says is true, what exactly should President Bush have done with these unspecified warnings?

Should he have imposed martial law and ordered the FBI to round up every Arab who had come into the country?

Should he have shutdown down our airspace to all commercial and private airlines? For how long? A month? A year?

Should he have stopped all Arabs from Yemen or every other middle east country from boarding our planes?

To accuse the Bush Administration of negligence you have to point out something that he should have done but didn't. There is nothing in any of these excerpts that showed that Bush failed to do something in response to these alerts. He did not prevent the CIA or FBI from gathering information or going after the terrorists.

The ONLY tangible and concrete thing that could have been done to prevent these attacks but wasn't was Bill Clinton's act of refusing to take custody of Bin Laden when the Saudi's offered to turn him over.

@furaha hussein: Hard to invite comeone to speak at the Convention when your entire political campaign strategy revolve s around pretending he never existed. ;)

@HemiHead66: I'd be less worred about the duplicate posts and more about their silly content. Incompetence and gross negligence more than account for what happened on 9/11 without going into crazy conspiracy theory land.

GWBush chose to ignore warnings and he knew full well the these attacks were coming. Did he know exactly where/when? I doubt it but he did nothing in preparation. Once the attacks commenced he vowed to the 911 families on Osama dead or alive. Then chose to Al Queda and off to his made up WMD war. Bush has the blood on his hands of our brave sons and daughters who died or were maimed in Iraq. He has blood on his hands for those in Afganistan who didn't have the full resources of men, money and materials to defeat our enemy as those were assets in WMD Iraq. GWBush gave up on getting Osama. GWBush gave up on avenging the deaths of 3000 Americans. GWBush should be tried for crimes against the USA and any accessories to his crime.

Rather than hating Bush or thinking that he could have prevented 9/11, I would simply say the myopic focus on Saddam freaking Hussein, made the administration unwilling to even consider different perspectives - such as repeated warnings about bin Laden. And after we invaded Afghanistan, that same myopic focus made the Bush administration pivot directly back to Iraq compounding their failure to target the real threats to the US.

Seriously? How appropriate that the NY TIMES, the core of the Brotherhood propaganda - the nest of 'hate President Bush' at all costs, decides today is the day for this CRAP! I am have had ENOUGH of this!!!! ENOUGH! For one day , ONE DAY can we stop blaming Bush for the cracks in the sidewalk and act like Americans? Is that too much to ask on this day of days when we pause to remember the worst terror attacks in our nation's history?

I give thanks to GEORGE W BUSH for keeping us safe, but leading our nation during such a time of darkness and sadness.. with resolution and determination .. and for putting in place the necessary protocol and defense for us being safe today.

You can continue to blame and disparage George W. Bush all you wish in the media.. and you should be ashamed to your core!

You cant talk about Bush or point out what he did wrong or sometimes even call him a repub. That inspite of the current duo having exactly the same policies on steroids including on blustering on Russia, blustering about going into Syria, blustering on Iran, and issuing even more tax cuts to the top than even Bush ever did.

I was a member in a Yahoo group in January of 2001 that was supposed to be an Arab - American Friendship club. There was some normal seemingly friendly discussions along with the usual idiotic banter between pin heads that always show up in such groups and there were a lot of posts that were written in Arabic so most of those I couldn't read. There was one exchange between an American and Arab guy where the American was clearly stirring up hatred and discontent when finally one of the Arab guys wrote, "You will understand on the day it rains airplanes." Not much was said after that but he was talking about how serious his people were in being against Americans and our arrogance around the world. Fast forward to today 11 years ago and it was a Holy Crap kind of moment, but even if the people in the forum took him seriously, there was not enough information at that time to consider what he actually meant by it and that it might have been a warning about a specific attack in a specific way on a specific date. A general warning like that is only significant when viewed with 20/20 hindsight.